Watch This Face: Silke Van Daal

Every week, Bazaar's booking team highlights one name to note, from the industry's best-known faces to girls who are just starting out. This week, we turn our attention to Silke Van Daal.

At just 18, and after two incredible seasons, Van Daal has a client list growing by the day that includes the industry’s biggest fashion brands. The Dutch new face had an exciting start to her career with Proenza Schouler's S/S18 show. Catwalk shows for Versace, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana naturally led to Van Daal featuring in Prada’s Girls Invented campaign, photographed by Willy Vanderperre.

Van Daal's free spirit and down-to-earth charm stems from her roots, growing up in a seaside town and looking up to the Dutch supermodel Doutzen Kroes. “From our perspective, what makes Silke so special in the industry is that she so differs from the traditional expectation of a Dutch beauty,” says Nicole Urbonas at Women Management. "There’s an intellectual and precise quality to her that has always been inspirational to our team.” Van Daal is on the path to supermodel status with features in Bazaar andadvertising campaigns, in addition to her A/W 18 show season being even greater than her last.

We talk to the bohemian beauty about being discovered at a Broadway show, her favourite rock music and her Prada moment.

Alexander Wagner

How were you discovered?

“I was discovered by a scout in 2012 after seeing Mary Poppins on Broadway in New York City with my mum. But since I was only 12 years old, I was too young to model. When I moved back to Holland at 15, I was scouted again at a restaurant on the beach by a friend of Micha Emmering-Krijger. I sent photos to her and met her. It all felt right. The rest is history.”

If you weren’t modelling, which career would you pursue and why?

“I love working with kids, since I’ve always loved to babysit and care for children. I haven’t really thought about what exactly I would like to do with them, but I know it’s going to be somewhere in that direction.”

What would you say has been the highlight of your career so far?

“The highlight of my career so far would be shooting the Prada campaign. I couldn’t have imagined walking the Prada show during my first fashion week and then shooting the Prada campaign. I couldn’t believe that I was a part of it so early in my career!”

Alexander Wagner

How do you spend your free time?

“I love to go on a walk with some music on, watch series on Netflix, sing (and usually I do that with my mum in the kitchen with a spatula in our hands and then we dance and sing off-key). And when inspiration hits me, I really love to write poems.”

Do you have any travel tips for those visiting your hometown?

“I live in Voorschoten, which is a pretty small town that’s 45 minutes away from Amsterdam. In the town itself there’s not a lot you can do but it is a half-hour bike ride away from the beach. That’s where I always love to go to clear my head and feel free like a bird, to write some poems. You also have a lake called the Vlietlanden in my hometown, and there you can rent canoes, kayaks and sailboats.”

“I can’t choose to just wear one designer since I love a lot of different ones. Like a chic, casual, rocker, bohemian-style. It just really depends on what I feel like that day.”

What kind of advice would you give to new girls to the industry?

“To always be yourself and don’t let criticism change you. Just learn from it and have a thick skin. Never give up on your dreams and have fun.”

Is there a model’s career that you admire and why?

“I admire Doutzen Kroes. She’s also Dutch and she has studied at the same high school as my parents. She’s really down-to-earth and humble, and she’s still working hard in the industry. I admire that.”

What is your life motto?

“Stay positive, work hard and make it happen.”

Let’s talk about favourites. What about…

…music? “I like lots of music genres, but I mostly listen to oldies like the Smiths, rock like the 1975, and a Spanish band, Camila. The songs that are on repeat in my track list are: The Sheltering Sky theme, 'On the Loose' by Niall Horan and Ik Val by Wudstik, which is a beautifully contracted Dutch song. “

…movies? “Dirty Dancing: Havana nights. It plays in Cuba and I fell in love with the songs and the story. The Blues Brothers – I have watched this movie three or more times with my family.”

…books? “The Help by Kathryn Stockett. This book made me feel so much emotion, and I have cried multiple times reading it because of how people were mistreated who have different skin colours. Any book by Sarah Dessen. I love romantic stories.”

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